Sights and Sounds

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Join organist and director of Christ Church School of the Arts, Jesse Nathan Glaude on Sunday, May 26th at 3pmfor a program celebrating the vivid stained glass windows at Christ Episcopal Church, Norwich CT.

Installed in 1963, these landmark windows are the work of the internationally renowned Belgian artist

Benoît Gilsoul,

tracing the life story of Christ in rich, expressionistic hues.

Don't miss this one of a kind program as Mr. Glaude improvises on each of these glorious windows!

Admission is FREE! Donations may be made to help support the series. A champagne reception will follow the program and audience members will have the opportunity to chat with Mr. Glaude and get a "tour"of the Christ Church sanctuary organ. For more information: 860.425.0663 or www.ccsarts.org.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Every year in the Spring, the Friends of Otis Library hold a book sale in the basement of Otis Library downtown.

I absolutely love going. It doesn't matter that I haven't read most of the books I got last year, I want more. They hold a 3 day event finishing up on Sunday, which in my opinion is the best day to go.
When you walk in on Sunday, they hand you a plastic bag and you can buy as many books as will fit inside this bag for $4. What's not to love about that right?
Last year, I walked out with 12 books. This year my book haul was about the same, even picked up some German books for my mother.
But the Pièce de résistance was the vinyl records they had displayed on a center table. My father initially picked up 3 boxes (containing approx 5 records) of Beethoven from Deutsche Gramophone. I took a look at the table and was stupefied. Of all the albums that were on this table, how could he only pick up the 3 Beethovens?
Given the choice of only picking one, I had no idea which to pick. How do you choose between Haydn, Debussy, Brahms, Mozart, Bach, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Schumann, Chopin, Prokofiev, and Berlioz?
I made mention that if I had a way to carry them, I would take them all. But since we had walked from our house near Norwich Free Academy down to the library, that was not exactly a plausible act.
However, one of the women working the event overheard me and offered to hold them for to get my car. So we said heck yes!
She offered us the deal of a life time 28 Boxed Sets from Time Life and Deutsche Gramophone for $26.

Now my mother on the other hand was not as impressed with our purchase because she still doesn't really love the other 6-7,000 records my father has in our living room, even after 22 years. But who cares! We just made a fantastic deal and we were bringing those records into the house one way or another.

I can't wait to listen to some of them, but first my father needs to show me how to use his record player since I've never even touched it (in fear of some disaster)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Well, it's a little short notice but for those of you who didn't know there is a concert tonight in the new Kelly Middle School Auditorium at 7pm. I only found out about it on Sunday, but I'm still planning to attend tonight.

Tonight's performance is from the Norwich Public School Chorus & Band Concert."All families with students attending Kelly or Teachers' Memorial Middle School next school year with an interest in music are encouraged to attend an Open House and Concert on Wednesday June 6 at 7pm at Kelly MS where they can find out more about registering for music lessons."

The program is run by the Norwich Public Schools Education Foundation, whose goals include "to support the Norwich Public Schools in providing a challenging and enriching educational experience that maximizes the learning potential of every student and prepares them to succeed in the 21st century."

For those with middle-school aged children in the Norwich Public School system interested in having their children experience music education, which unfortunately is not present in all city schools, the NPSEF has an After-school Music Program that provides once a week lessons for a small fee ($10/month) with bus transportation provided to ensure your child makes it home.No experience is required to join the program, and students are encouraged to provide their own brass or woodwind instruments (many area music stores have rent/lease/own options) as donated instruments are limited .

Interested in signing up your child? Or perhaps you'd like to donate your time or maybe an instrument to the program?

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Christ Church School of the Arts, Inc, is looking for a talented, energetic guitarist to teach privately and build up a strong studio within the school. We are a small 501(c)3 non-profit organization, dedicated to high-quality one-on-one musical instruction, and to the importance of beauty and creativity in the life of our community. Instructors at CCSArts set their own hours, have the freedom to teach in their own manner and style, and are given the opportunity to perform on our popular Chamber Music Series. We are housed at Christ Episcopal Church, centrally located near both the downtown district and the highways. Our school office manages all student contacts, schedules, payments and policy, leaving the instructors free to do what they do best: make music!

For more information on who we are and what we do, please contact us at 860-425-0663, or at ccsartsmail@yahoo.com. Letters of interest and resumes may be sent to CCSArts, Inc, 78 Washington St, Norwich, CT 06360 (attn: Executive Director).